Sexual abuse victims set to suffer from ACC cuts

An article from Te Waha Nui by Alice Tollestrup

Cuts to ACC could have a lasting effect on survivors of sexual abuse as counselling support criteria are tightened. The new regulations will be coming into place from 27 October.
Under the proposed changes a sexual assault victim must now talk with three separate ACC therapists before they are eligible for counselling support. Prior to the ACC cuts, victims were only required to talk with one therapist for evaluation.
End Rape Culture spokesperson Miriam Sessa says it usually takes a bit of safety building to know what you are thinking is not going to be fired back at you.
“Many victims will be put off if they feel as though they are simply being shipped from one person to another.”
Director of Rape Prevention Education Dr Kim McGregor says many people do not realise for some survivors of severe interpersonal trauma such as child sexual abuse, their counsellor may be their lifeline.
“If their connection to their counsellor is threatened, then for some their very life feels under threat,” she said.
A second major change to the ACC rules is in the eligibility requirements for victims. Those wishing to get support will only be eligible for help if they can claim the abuse has lead to ‘mental injury’. This ‘mental injury’ will then be listed on the individual’s permanent record – meaning the victim will have to declare the mental injury when applying for jobs, benefits and education.
Sexual abuse psychotherapist Marylyn Tait said she had heard of a client who had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress after a sexual abuse incident. Years after the incident, when the client applied for life insurance they were denied due to the fact they were more likely to commit suicide.
Groups opposed to the changes are arguing that labelling a victim with a mental injury shifts the onus away from the perpetrator, labeling the victim as ‘crazy’.
An example was highlighted in the Taranaki Daily News last week about a grandmother who had received a letter from the ACC regarding her grandson who had been sexually abused. The letter declined the boy cover, stating ACC had found no clinically mental injury arising from the events described.
“An ACC psychologist believes one of the boy’s mood swings, tearfulness and sitting alone sucking his thumb could be due to settling into schools and a new environment rather than the sexual abuse events,” it said.
Counselling hours are also under question and the amount a victim can receive will be cut. The hours needed are to be determined by ACC with each individual client and they are able to cut them off at any given time.
A spokesman for ACC Minister Nick Smith said this was a clinical matter for ACC and the minister had no more intention of intervening over eligibility than he did in other areas of medical treatment.
“The origins of the guidelines go back to 2004, when concerns were raised about the effectiveness of sexual abuse counselling. That resulted in an $800,000 comprehensive research programme by Massey University, which led to the new guidelines being produced last year. There has been extensive consultation on those guidelines,” the spokesman says.
A group of ACC counsellors in Nelson have made a stand, saying they will not take on any new ACC clients as they believe it is against their ethics and unsafe for the clients.
“We as a group are ethically opposed to the changes as they are not safe for the client. We are not going to work under the conditions,” says Tait. The decision has not been made lightly, with Tait losing about 50 per cent of her workload by taking this stand. She says some counsellors will be losing 100 per cent of their work as a result. “We believe so strongly in this. It’s just not fair and we believe it is our responsibility to be responsible for the clients and make them feel safe.”
Tait said the group of counsellors are still awaiting some kind of recognition to their stand from the ACC, which has not acknowledged their move. “We are making an ethical stand and we are expecting a response,” she said.
The group said in a statement that they were not withdrawing their counselling services from current clients. “Of course we will continue to work with anyone to whom we have already made a therapeutic commitment.”
Dr Kim McGregor gave Te Waha Nui details of a letter written to ACC from an individual who had been violently raped by an extended family member at age seven. The individual stated: “I am absolutely certain that without the help of a counsellor, the pain and disability that I experienced due to the abuse I suffered as a child would have driven me to suicide.
“If my counsellor had told me I needed to see ACC’s shrink three times and be diagnosed with a mental condition before I could go to counselling, I would never have gone back,” the person said in the letter.
Sessa believes the long term impacts of these cuts will be huge for New Zealand. “Even if you look at it economically, it will cost the country more in the long run to be paying out for mental illness benefits as opposed to working on prevention,” she says.
A national day of action will be happening around the country in the main centres with Auckland protestors marching to ACC from the Albert Park band rotunda at 12pm, October 19.

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